By Hugo vG
Like many kids I love pasta. Pasta is one of my favourite dishes especially lasagna and I also like ravioli. Dad says it is a lot of work to make it, but I do not agree, it is fun work. So I decided to make it myself.
Who connected us?! I have the pasta recipe from my Dad’s website here, and the filling is from a cookbook that is about pasta only.
Makes: 5 portions | Total time for making dough and Ravioli: 45 min | Cooking time: 10 min
Ingredients
- Pasta dough recipe for 5
Filling
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 500g of firm ricotta
- 150g of spinach leaves washed well
- 100g (1 cup) grated Parmesan cheese
- 50g (½ cup) grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- ½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 2 egg yolks
- Pinch of nutmeg
- Salt and pepper to your liking
Pasta Dough
First, I made the pasta dough according to the recipe of Jamie Oliver and then I left it to rest. When the dough was resting I made the filling.
Spinach & Ricotta filling
To make the spinach and ricotta filling you put the oil in the pan then once heated add the spinach toss it around a bit then once it has shrivelled up take it out of the pan and then finely chop the spinach and put it all in a bowl once you add all the other ingredients and mix all together. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Rolling the dough and making the Ravioli
To make the dough thin we used a pasta machine up to number 8. This is quite thin, but you need that to ensure the pasta cooks well. I make the sheets 1 by 1 otherwise the pasta dries out and it is harder to make the little ravioli parcels.
Next, make the spinach and ricotta into little balls put it on the dough and put dough on top layer of pasta, then tighten all the gaps. Once you have done that cut a square around the filling. Continue doing that until all the filling is finished.
You can now leave the pasta for a bit before you cook it, cover it with a tea towel or plastic (I prefer the tea towel which is more environmental friendly).
Cooking the Ravioli
Then boil some water in a pot and put the ravioli in the pot and wait for 4 minutes or until the ravioli is done. Don’t put too many in at once, about 4 to 6 is a good amount. If you have finished all of the ravioli then you can start eating it. I topped it with roasted pine nuts and shaved parmesan cheese.
I really enjoyed making this recipe with my dad and the end result was really yummy best ravioli ever.
If you have too much ravioli that has not been cooked then you can freeze it for up to 2 weeks.
Notes from me and my dad
Thin pasta: Roll the pasta very thin, I prefer number 8 on the pasta machine. Because you put 2 sheets together the pasta doubles in thickness. If the pasta is too thick it is harder to cook.
Left over dough cuts: After you cut the ravioli you have some left over dough which you can just put together and use again by rolling it trough the machine.
How much filling: You can size the parcel to your own liking. For cooking purpose, make them all the same size so their cooking time is the same.
Air out: When you make the parcels, make sure that you get the air out when you press the pasta together around the filling. Taking the air out prevents the little parcels from popping open during the cooking.
Cooking time: Around 4 minutes should be long enough to cook the ravioli if you rolled the dough thinly. If you make the parcels fairly big, you might want to cook them a little longer.
Large pan: As with any pasta you cook, use a large pan of boiling water. This ensures that when you put the pasta into the boiling water, the water temperature does not drop too much.
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